Aventurier Limited in Africa

Aventurier Limited is setting up operations in Nigeria, Africa. Our website should be back up soon...Thank you for your patience

John Lewis warns prices 'likely' to rise on 'Yes' vote

Prices in Scottish branches of John Lewis and Waitrose may be higher than in the rest of the UK if the country votes "Yes" to independence.

The chairman of the John Lewis said it was "most probable" that prices will rise, with costs passed on to customers.

Sir Charlie Mayfield said there were "economic consequences to a 'Yes'".

On Thursday, the partnership, which includes Waitrose, posted a 12% jump in pre-tax profits.

Sir Charlie said: "It does cost more money to trade in parts of Scotland, and therefore those higher costs in the event of a 'Yes' vote are more likely to passed on ...

"When we are talking about two separate countries it is most probable that retailers will start pricing differently."

In response to the comments, the Scottish finance secretary John Swinney said: "Charlie Mayfield is entitled to his opinion.

"I think the argument is one that is firmly contested by other retailers who do not take the view that has been expressed this morning by Charlie Mayfield."
'Challenging'
While overall profits at the partnership were up 12% at £129.8m, operating profits at Waitrose fell 9.4% due to new store openings.

Waitrose opened 15 more branches in the UK, 11 more than in the same period last year.

Sales at Waitrose rose 1.3% and 8.2% at John Lewis.

John Lewis' click and collect service increased in popularity, up 25.6%, and now accounting for 30% of all merchandise sold.

The partnership said outlook for food was "challenging" but other parts of the business were "more positive than has been the case for several years".
Asda too
Asda has also warned that a "Yes" vote could have an impact on their prices.

Andy Clarke, president and chief executive of Asda said: "If we were no longer to operate in one state with one market and - broadly - one set of rules, our business model would inevitably become more complex. We would have to reflect our cost to operate here.

"This is not an argument for or against independence, it is simply an honest recognition of the costs that change could bring."

Link: http://www.bbc.com/news/business-29153022

Nigeria Economy Resisting Ebola, Finance Minister Says

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria's finance minister.

The Ebola outbreak in West African countries is not seriously affecting the Nigerian economy, Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest economy, has recorded 21 cases of the virus, and eight people have died within its borders, according to the World Health Organization. There were no current confirmed cases as of Sept. 10, the health ministry says.

“We have a team monitoring the economic impact and we don’t feel we are yet at the point where we can say it’s having a huge impact on the economy,” Okonjo-Iweala said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Africa late yesterday. “There’s been some fall-off in hotel occupancy, in Lagos in particular, some meetings have been postponed, but you still have other businesspeople who are arriving.”

Ebola has killed at least 2,288 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, countries on Africa’s Atlantic coast that don’t border Nigeria. On Sept. 9, the parent of Nigeria’s biggest company, Dangote Cement (DANGCEM), said it was postponing a planned investor day in Lagos, the commercial hub, as a result of Ebola-related travel fears.

Okonjo-Iweala also said that the country’s Excess Crude Account, where a portion of oil revenue is stored to cushion the economy against volatility, stands at $4.11 billion. That’s the same level as reported by ThisDay newspaper in July.

Vulnerable Economy

The minister said in January she was concerned that a decline in the account balance to about $2.5 billion at that time had left the economy “vulnerable” and should be redressed this year.

The country plans to open the Development Bank of Nigeria in the next six to nine months. The lender will initially be capitalized with $2 billion, a figure that may rise to as much as $10 billion, and fill a gap in Nigerian business lending, the minister said.

“It’s very difficult for businesspeople, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, to find any money for five years, seven years,” she said. “Mostly they can borrow for a year to three years. If you want to build a business sustainably and you want your economy to have sustained growth you’ve got to fix access to finance.”

The development bank will be partly financed by the Nigerian government, and is also due to receive $500 million each from the World Bank and the African Development Bank, and a credit line from the German development bank, KfW Group, she said.

“It’s going to be strong and get rated,” she said.

Debt Risks

Referring to recent African Eurobond issues, Okonjo-Iweala said governments should exercise discipline in borrowing. She negotiated debt relief for Nigeria from the Paris Club group of creditors in 2005 during her first stint as finance minister.

“It has to be investment with high returns to justify the borrowing, but even then I would be very cautious and I think on the continent we shouldn’t get too enamored with floating these bonds,” she said.
 
African nations from Senegal to Kenya have sold sovereign debt this year as borrowing costs dropped to a 15-month low in August, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. indexes. The West African nation of Ghana said yesterday it had sold $1 billion of bonds due January 2026 that were priced to yield 8.25 percent.

“We have to watch it so we don’t find ourselves as a continent back in the situation we were in before,” the minister said. “Each time you go to float these Eurobonds you should do it making sure you get reasonable yields. I’m not one to say, let’s rush out and accumulate a lot of debt, maybe because of my experience trying to get debt relief.”

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-11/nigeria-economy-resisting-ebola-finance-minister-says.html

Nigeria’s Enterprise Bank Set for Local Buyer After Bids

Enterprise Bank Ltd., the Nigerian lender taken over by the state in 2011, may be sold to a unit linked to Heritage Banking Co., with a second local institution next in line.

While HBC Investment Services is the preferred buyer, Nigeria’s Fidelity Bank Plc (FIDELITY) is the “reserve bidder for the acquisition of the entire issued and fully paid up ordinary shares of Enterprise Bank,” the Asset Management Corp., or Amcon, said in a statement yesterday.

“This process started with interest shown by 24 parties cutting across local and international bidders,” said Amcon, which is based in the capital, Abuja. The sale is being coordinated by a unit of Citigroup Inc. (C) and Vetiva Capital Management Ltd., it said.

Amcon was set up in 2010 to buy bad loans and took over three of the eight lenders it rescued as part of a 620 billion-naira ($3.8 billion) bailout. It has been preparing the sales of distressed assets held by Enterprise, Mainstreet Bank Ltd. and Keystone Bank Ltd. for the past three years, with Enterprise the first to be put up for sale.

Enterprise resumed operations in August 2011 “as a full-service commercial bank with a national banking license,” Amcon said. It has 160 branches and 177 automated teller machines in Africa’s largest economy with a population of more than 170 million people.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-12/nigeria-s-enterprise-bank-set-for-local-buyer-after-bids.html